Do you believe that God rejoices over you, watches over you, and secures you and your loved ones ~ in his forever-hands? Show me someone who knows she is love-covered, and I’ll show you someone who knows how to love. People say, “you can’t give what you don’t have,” but neither can you give what you don’t know you have. How free can I be if I don’t know I’m free? How can I experience the fullness of God’s love if I experience it in my heart, but not in my mind? Heart Imagery Jesus wants us to intentionally remember the …
Raising Your Standard
[box] All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 [/box] When I think of God-breathed, I picture God, up-close and personal, igniting life in Adam’s nostrils, awakening unlimited possibility-seeds in mankind. Just as God worked with dirt and breathed life, He used imperfect men as human pens. Breathing life on their truth-stories, His Spirit-seeds continue to produce every kind of good fruit in keeping with repentance. God describes his Word as a sword, just as our …
Who’s The Judge?
[box] The Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. John 5:22-23[/box] The apostle John got me thinking… What could be a better way for the Father to show how much He loves the Son than for Him to give the Son the power to judge the world? Digging into this verse, I saw several things… The Father honors the Son. Love always honors and prefers another. The Father …
Micro Matters
My microwave oven went on the fritz just five slim days beyond its one-year warranty! “We’re VERY sorry,” said the store clerk, “but we can’t help you.” I hung up the phone and started to pray. Nothing fancy or super spiritual. Just, “Lord, please protect our things.” It seemed natural enough. After all, we’re to be wise stewards of our things, right? It hit me like a whoosh! “You need to also pray, Lord, protect my heart from things.” Protect my heart from things…. Ok, I can handle that. I’ll think about that. Then this verse hit me: “For where …
His Valentine
“I have loved you with an everlasting love…” Jeremiah 31:3 Tripping through life, tossed and torn here and there, we manage to lose it, to leak it. Where’d it go? Where’s joy? Instead of bubbling out, it fizzles flat, leaving us without a wave or a pat. We’re dry, needing a tune up in order to bloom up. Maybe we need to wake up, inhale the rush of salvation. Christ’s resurrection power pushes us passed death, into the new garden we neglect too often. We’re saved! No matter what’s wrong, there is a Holy Ghost song. Earth is just a …
Put on your Dancing Shoes
The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand. Psalms 37:23,24 About that disappointment you’re feeling… God’s working behind the scenes to make it a God-appointment. That’s Sovereignty. There are no missteps, only his steps; no detours, only God-tours. Rejoice in the Lord! Shout aloud! One blast of Jesus-joy, and say goodbye to those heavies. Remember how he called you? How he flipped on the music, reached for your hand, saying, “May I have this dance?” You said, …
God’s A Planner
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 Satan is our disaster-planner, but he’s not the writer of our future. God is. Best of all, God is into the details, right down to our cellular level. Consider the word disaster. An “aster” is a star-shaped structure that forms during cell reproduction. It’s formation is crucial to sustain all future life. We know Satan “disses” or disrespects all things “life,” especially Jesus, the author of life. That’s why …
Christmas Screams
When the valleys seem deeper, longer than the heights, depths of our mountaintop times, He is here. If we could see Him we would break into shouts of joy. He is here. He is here with His itinerary that makes Satan’s schemes look like child’s play. Satan doesn’t want us to see him, doesn’t want us to sense him, doesn’t want us to “consider it pure joy when we suffer trials of all kinds.” We’re not ignorant of his devices. We know he has a plan with our screaming pain to… reawaken unforgiveness, inflict fear and anxiety, load us with …
Secrets & Mysteries
I love talking to God in the morning when everyone’s asleep and it’s quiet, except for my husband’s snoring, (which reminds me how much I need to talk to God in the first place! <grin>) You can’t put a price tag on prayer. We get to connect with the God of the universe ~ the mysterious Father who gave us the Son who gave us the Spirit so we can connect back with the Father! “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?” Job 11:6-8 Millions of books have been written on God, …
The Empty Fix
Lord, I marvel because… You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar… Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? Psalm 139:2,7 Jesus whispers: I am your greatest fan, but I do more than cheer you on, more than weep with your tears and shout with your victories. I celebrate you. When the world tries to empty you dry, I bathe you in living water, reminding you that in Me, you posess everything. I was stripped of My glory so you could wear My righteousness. In my …
Beside My Cross
In truth, be rooted in Easter Love today, light and free as a tree bud, purposed and held together by Divine dwelling in your small, simple swelling. You’re your Branch’s crowning hope-jewel, Heaven’s waving, waiting, merry-making tool. The Easter Seed broke to tell your glory story, singing you to fullness, clothing you in new, death-defying nature, securing all you could ever want to be, simply, in Me. Nothing speaks of our potential and value to God like the cross. The cross is why we have a glory story. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, we can wholly lean into grace, …
Relax When People Are Dying?
“The perseverance of the saints consists in ever new beginnings.” ~ Alexander Whyte Staring like a morning zombie at the last bucket-sized mound of Minnesota snow in our backyard, I collapse on our family swing and enjoy the budding trees and chorusing birds. Ah, yes… Finally the semblance of spring! Why can’t every day be a bird-chirping, sit-in-the sun kind of day? Who invented stress anyway? How’d you do it, Lord? How did you bear the weight of the world, the sentence of shame and death, a teacher’s worst time-line (three years to turn your disciples into world-changers), without taking …
Touching Invisible Places
To be loved and understood is the cry of the human heart. Someone knows you inside in out, remembers what you’ve been through, and how it affects you today. He hears your silent prayers, and knows when your cherished dreams are dashed against a rock. At a women’s missions event this summer, a woman from the next table motioned me over. She was crying. She told me she’d just read “In Tune” from one of the postcard poems I’d placed on each table. I learned that the woman propped up in a wheelchair beside her was her daughter. She had …
Letter to the Old Me
I grew up in a home riddled with tension. That’s why I thrive on God’s invitation to peace: “My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27 If I could start over, I’d assure that little girl it’s ok to trust God, even when things don’t make sense. I’d remind her that since she belongs to the Prince of Peace, both Christ and His peace dwell in her, and no one can steal them away. I’d tell her to try to …
God Daydreams
Think your mind’s coursing with highways of thoughts? Imagine God’s. Only they’re not heavy thoughts. He’s bursting bright with light, beautiful thoughts of YOU! The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 Ever watch a mother sing over her newborn? Cradling him in her arms, she gazes at his tiny form, and washes him with the sweetness of her lullabies. Mostly he’s asleep so he doesn’t know it. In a rare moment of …
Will I Make It?
Whether we battle cancer, depression or grief, who hasn’t wondered if they’ll make it? I guess the answer depends on what we mean by “make it.” A few years ago I learned that my husband was depressed. Because I can’t control his moods (although I try to), if I’m not careful, I, too, can get depressed. When that happens, it’s usually when he’s coming out of an episode, so it leaves him wondering, hmm, what’s wrong with her? Why is she so down? Aren’t you glad God understands we’re dust? The good thing about weakness is it teaches us to …
Naked Shame Reversed
One day when I was a kid, I saw a mother at the mall accidentally drop her baby. Strange, how these precise moments of horror permanently press themselves in our brains. I’ve never seen anyone actually step on a baby, but I’ve seen the next closest thing: someone step on grace. Like an innocent, valuable, vulnerable baby, the gift of God’s grace was both painful and costly; but we step on it whenever we sin. Why do such a thing? For the same reason many deny Christ: selfishness. The pull of sin is great. To accept Truth means to submit …
I AM with You
I squeeze this verse for comfort. Fear’s a menace to my mind. I’m no stranger to its power; Fierce, it lies me down half-bind. I’m no stranger to My Savior, whose right hand upholds me tight. As I grope for hope, half-doubting, trusted Love remakes me light. “Why are you downcast, O my soul? … Put your hope in God” Psalm 42:11 Talked to your soul, lately? David needed to remind himself that his loving, Sovereign God was with him. God wants you to know He’s with you too: I’m with you on the operating table. I’m with you in …
Cloud-Lifter
Depression clouds our vision and blurs our perspective. Life doesn’t feel worth living. Lies sound true. Doctors and friends want to help us. Jesus is the only perfect friend, the Great Physician. “There’s a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24 Saying His name sings hope to our souls. Jesus…. When we take His hand He holds us tight. His truth brings clarity. Eyes on Him, our problems dim. Father, I ask that You bless my friends who stopped by today. Breeze Your peace and lift their clouds. Thank You that You began a good work in them …
Divine Presence
In whirlwinds of confusion when cold questions press you tight, ask Me close and I will hold you by a love surpassing sight. You’re my treasure, bright with promise, and I live to see you reign. As we cross this bridge together, I will lead you through your pain.